Chicago PD OneShot 7x10
by Sam36y
Summary: Did Jay survive the shooting and the surgery? Plays after the sneak peak for 7x10 (Jay whump, mention of panic attacks!)
1. Chicago PD OneShot 7x10

**Quick note: I "just" started with PD! I'm only in the middle of season 4 and I already saw a bit of season 7.**

**7x09 killed me and I can not wait any second longer to see if Jay survives. I don't want to fall in love with the show any more than I already am, when Jay dies… I would also stop watching…**

**Anyway after the little clip of 7x10 I had this little one shot in my head. Hope you like it.**

**I'm German, so I have a bit of a different writing style. Sorry in advance if not everything is 100% correct. 3 **

Everyone was in the waiting room. Hailey sat next to Adam, she was devastated. She almost lost Jay before, only there he luckily wore a vest and the bullet didn't go through but now… Now he was in the hospital fighting for his life and she just had to sit there and wait. She couldn't do anything.

Will entered the room. Voight, Adam and Hailey stood up and walked towards him. "Hey everybody, so I just talked to Dr. Marcel. He said the bullet graced the artery. They're still trying to repair it."

"Will, is he going to be okay?", Voight asked

Will took a deep breath before he answered "He lost a lot of blood…" You could see in his face that he was really worried. He just lost his dad not too long ago and now he might lose Jay. He couldn't lose his younger brother now.

"The surgery will still take a couple hours.", Will added.

Voight turned around to the group of policemen, who were all waiting for news on their colleague. "Okay, listen up. The surgery still takes a bit longer. I want you all to get back to work or home. I will call you as soon as we know more. I know it's hard. It's hard for all of us but we still need to do our work."

Everyone agreed and slowly left the hospital. Hailey and Adam stayed with Voight.

"We're not walking out of here before we know if he makes it out of this surgery alive!", Adam said, sitting down again.

"I can bring you all some coffee, if you need anything.", Will offered.

"We're fine. Thanks."

The hours went by very slowly. The clock was ticking and ticking and nothing happened. Some people walked into the waiting room and went back outside a bit later.

Hailey couldn't wait any second longer. She'd been shaking and rubbing her hands, which were still covered in his blood, for the past four hours and one little spot was already bleeding. "Oh god, come on guys, can you tell me how you can keep so calm here? I'm about to run into the OR and see if my partner is still alive.", Hailey almost screamed and got up from her chair.

"Hey, hey! Shh.. Come on, sit back down." , Adam took her arm softly and guided her back into the chair. "It's okay, let it all out. I get you! He's my partner, too!" He pulled her into a hug and she started crying.

"Do you want me to get Will for an update?", Voight asked.

She just shook her head. At this point she was so scared that Will wouldn't come back inside because he himself was sitting somewhere crying over his dead brother. No, she couldn't think like this now. Jay was still alive. She could feel it.

"Anything we can bring you to calm down? Coffee?", Adam asked. Hailey again just shook her head. All she wanted now was for Jay to be alive.

A while later, at this point no one really knew how long they had waited, Will entered the room.

All three stood up and looked at him with hopeful glances.

"So…. Jay is out of surgery. He…. It's still critical for the next 48 hours. We… Dr. Marcel had to put him into a medically induced coma. I'm sorry." Will himself had changed into civil clothes. The hospital moved all his shifts so he could be with his brother.

"Can we see him?" Hailey asked. Adam still had a comforting arm around her.

"Sadly no visitors are allowed. But Hailey or Voight you can quickly go see him.", Will said. "I just want to warn you. He is intubated. A machine is breathing for him. He has at least three IVs for blood and fluids hanging…. He is also really pale because of the blood loss." He added under his breath "He looks horrible."

"It's okay. I'll wait outside the room. I think that is enough for me. Thanks Will!", Adam said and they all followed the doctor upstairs to the ICU.

Outside Jay's room, the curtains were closed, only the door was open and you could already see the machines inside. Will waited a second to collect his energy before he stepped inside. This was the first time he went into the room too. After Dr. Marcel told him how the surgery went, he just walked past quickly and then went down to the waiting area to tell the team.

Jay was laying liveless in his bed. He was covered up to his belly with a simple white blanket. On his chest was a big white bandage with a little spot of blood on it. Wires were coming from his body to the machine that read his vitals. On the right side of his chest was a little tube. It was filled with blood. His mouth was covered with the breathing tube. His eyes were closed and his face looked awfully pale. The cuts and bruises from the beating he took before were stitched up and some were also covered with small white bandages.

The only indication that Jay was still alive was the monitor beeping in a slow rhythm. The other sound came from the breathing machine. It pumped fresh air into his lungs, that's when his chest would rise a bit and then fall back down again. The noise was horrifying.

Will took a small plastic bag out of his pocket. He stood next to the bed while Hailey stood at the end of the bed. Voight was behind her. The plastic bag contained something small and silver. Will looked at the thing in his hands and then at his little brother. "This is the bullet. We had to remove it… Most of the times we can leave the bullets inside the patient but this was definitely not the case here."

"Can I have it?", Voight asked.

"It belongs to Jay…"

"I'll give it to him when he wakes up."

Will gave the bag to Voight. Yet he never left sight of his little brother.

Hailey looked at the bag quickly and then realized everything. This is the bullet that almost killed her partner. Up to now everything was just blurred but now reality was coming back to her. Jay was laying there not even breathing on his own, barely hanging in and fighting for his life. It came all to her in a rush of emotions of anger and sadness. She didn't know what was happening to her but her legs gave up and Voight caught her. She started crying and her breaths came in short and laboured.

She was having a panic attack.

Voight hugged her and moved her out of the room. Will followed them and closed the door behind him so they wouldn't see Jay anymore.

"Natalie! Bring her something!", Will yelled at her colleague who was just passing by. "Hailey, take deep breaths. It's all going to be okay."

The next thing Hailey remembered was her waking up in a hospital room with a breathing mask on her and her team and Will standing next to her looking worried.

"You passed out. Keep the mask on if you still feel short of breath. That panic attack really got you. I gave you something. It will help. Don't worry, you can leave later with Adam and Voight." Will explained.

"Is that serious?"

"Panic attacks can be serious and harmful to your body but that was your first time, right?" Will said and Hailey nodded. "Yeah, if you're experiencing more of those attacks we can make some further tests but other than that, you're good for now."

"Thank you, Will!", Adam said.

Later that night everyone left. Adam offered to take Hailey with him, she shouldn't be alone. Will wouldn't leave the hospital. He sat next to Jay's bed in one of those uncomfortable chairs. He didn't care. All he wanted was for his brother to be alright. He just sat there for hours. He didn't say anything, he didn't do anything. Will just sat there and looked at his younger brother and prayed.

Natalie made her last round before going home and found Will in Jay's room. Will fell asleep with his head in his arms on the bed next to Jay's legs.

"Oh Will…", she smiled, got a thin blanket from the shelf and carefully covered Will's shoulders and back with it.

She went over to the other side of the bed to look at Jay's vitals. "You're improving slightly! That is great. Have a good night, my Halstead brothers." Natalie said into the room and walked out with a smile.

Dr. Marcel stood outside and waited for Natalie. "So, he is improving.", he heard her say it.

"Yeah. Slightly but the vitals are improving."

"That is great."

"I know you did everything you could do. I'm sure he'll be alright. I don't think Will could handle losing Jay right now."

"Let's just not think about this. Let's just hope Jay makes it through the night."

He felt some tapping but it wasn't enough to alert Will. He just thought he imagined it. A few moments later he felt it again. Will opened his eyes and got up slowly. He yawned and protruded himself. His back was sore from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. He looked at Jay.

"Good morning, brother.", he said and wanted to walk over to the monitor to look at this brothers vitals but he noticed Jay's finger moving.

"Jay? Hey, can you hear me?", he took his hand carefully. "If you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Nothing happened.

Dr. Marcel came into the room. "Good morning, Halstead."

"He moved his finger!", Will said.

"Really?", Dr. Marcel moved over to the monitor to check everything.

"He did it twice or three times now but I just asked him to squeeze my hand and nothing happened ."

"Will. I'm sorry, it doesn't look like he will wake up any time soon. I'm actually happy he made it through the night."

"But I know he moved!" Will was so sure. He felt it, he saw it.

"I'm sorry, Will. Maybe you should get out of here for a moment, get something to eat and drink. Maybe even go home. You know we'll notify you as soon as anything happens. You've been here long enough. You need to rest yourself."

Dr. Marcel had already one food out of the door when Jay moved his fingers again. Will almost screamed at his colleague. The doctor turned around to see it. He almost dropped his iPad to move next to Jay's bed.

"Jay?", he did a light test to see if his eyes reacted to the light.

First nothing happened but then he squeezed the hand very slightly.

Will and Dr. Marcel looked and smiled at each other.

It took Jay a moment to open his eyes and leave them fully open. He still had the breathing tube in which made him panic.

"Jay. Keep calm! We'll remove the tube in a second, okay? Keep calm. I'm right here." Will said.

Dr. Marcel checked everything and gave the okay to remove the tube.

Jay coughed as soon as the tube was removed.

"Welcome back, Jay.", Dr. Marcel said as he traded the big tube for a small nasal cannula.

"h…hurts…", Jay said quietly.

"Your throat?"

Jay nodded.

"That is normal after being intubated. It'll get better soon. Do you feel any more pain?"

Jay moved his head carefully to the side.

"That is great. Do you remember what happened?"

"Shot… Hai… Hailey?", he asked.

"I'll inform Hailey in a second. They are all alright.", Dr. Marcel said and left Will alone with his brother for a moment.

"You scared the hell out of me, you know that right?!", Will said.

"Sorry."

"Don't just say 'sorry'! I'm just so happy you're back and made it through the night.", Will smiled.

"Hailey and Voight will be here in five minutes.", Dr. Marcel quickly informed the Halstead brothers while walking by the room.

"Angela?"

"You're really asking about that woman? The woman who shot you, even though you've done so much for her?"

"She alive?"

"Yes. Sadly. We removed the bullet from her stomach and she is still here. After that she'll be in custody. She almost killed you! Voight wants her locked up for the rest of her life."

"Good. I'm sorry."

"It's all good, Jay. You rest up and get better! I won't leave your side!"

"Please do when Hailey comes.", Jay said. His voice got better with every word.

"I will, gotta run to the toilet anyway.", Will laughed.

"JAY!", Hailey came into the room and immediately walked to the bed and took his hand.

"Hey.", he said quietly and smiled at her.

"I'm so happy you are alive! Oh god I was so worried!", she said. Jay noticed the watery eyes and the dark circles under her eyes.

"You good?", he asked.

"Yeah! Now that I know you are!" she grinned and a few tears rolled down her cheek. Jay slowly moved his heavy arm up to her face to wipe away the tears.

Voight entered the room quietly. "Welcome back, Jay."

"Sarg." Jay greeted him.

"I have something for you."

Jay looked at him with a big question mark on his face.

Voight pulled a necklace out of his pocket. On the necklace was a small silver thing. Jay couldn't figure out what it was for the moment. Voight walked to his bed and placed the necklace into his hand. "They had to remove the bullet. Alvin was always wearing the one bullet that almost killed him around his neck. Maybe you want that too."

Jay took a good look at the bullet. "Wow." He was shocked. This little thing almost killed him. All just because he wanted to help a family out. "Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

Due to popular demand, here's a second chapter of this OneShot - well now it's a two shot xD

Have fun!

Idea came from a guest comment on the first chapter (Thank you for that btw!):

"_Are you going to make chapter 2?..Thank you for putting here..i like him too, might be will check on Jay again and find him has fever ,Jay surgery incision develops imfection and require another emergency treatment?"_

Jay's been having some light fever since the previous night. It's been three days since he woke up from the coma. Will was concerned and didn't want to leave his brother's side.

Everything happened so quickly, Will was sitting next to Jay's bed, talking about how things are with Natalie, when he suddenly noticed that Jay wasn't even listening to him anymore.

"Hey Jay, you alright?"

"No.", he managed to say before clutching the surgery wound and gritting his teeth in pain. At the same moment the heart monitor started beeping faster and the alarm started.

"Jay!", Will tried to help his brother clam down. He pulled his hands away and looked at a bandage soaked with blood. "Jay! Oh my god! How much did you move? The stitches must all be open!"

"Argh… barely… help…"

Will didn't remember when the last time was Jay asked him for help. This was serious. He quickly pushed the red button and yelled for help.

"It's gonna be alright, Jay!" Will had only looked away for a second. "Jay?" he realized that his brother just lost consciousness.

Will suddenly snapped from brother to doctor. He leveled the bed and started CPR after he placed an oxygen mask over Jay's face.

"Cardiac arrest!", Will yelled at the doctor and nurses running into the room. His hands got covered in blood as he kept pushing down on his brothers chest.

The doctor gave him something through the IV line and told Will to stop.

The red line of the heart monitor was not flat anymore. Jay was stabilizing.

"OR 3! Emergency now!", the doctor yelled and they pushed Jay's bed out of the room.

Hailey run in on Will sitting on the chair, staring down into his bloody hands. "Will? What happened? Where is Jay?", she asked. Her detective mind was already telling her that the blood must be from Jay.

"Hailey.", Will looked up. He was in shock.

"Will? Hey!?", Hailey knew something wasn't right with him either and called for a nurse. "He was like this when I got here.", Hailey told Natalie, who had just entered.

"Will! Come on, we'll get you cleaned up.", she pushed Will to stand up and guided him out of the room. Hailey was left alone with tons of questions. She didn't know what was going on with Jay and no one was here to help her get answers. At first she didn't know what to do but then decided it was the best to just go find another nurse and ask.

She wandered around and finally found a young nurse. "Hey, you. Can you tell me what happened to Jay Halstead? ICU Room 12. He is not there."

The nurse looked at her tablet. "Yeah. He has been in surgery for half an hour already. It looks like it was an emergency. Nothing was scheduled for him."

"Okay, thank you." Hailey said and walked. Just walked out of the hospital. This can't be happening. She was with him just the evening before. He was fine. He didn't complain. What was going on?

Hailey decided to call Adam. She knew she could get comfort from him.

"Adam, come to the hospital. Jay is in emergency surgery."

She heard through the phone that Adam was at work and informed everyone else in the Unit. He told her they'd be there right away.

When Voight and Adam walked into the hospital, Hailey was sitting in the waiting room in front of the OR. "Hey! Any news?", Adam asked and sat next to her. Voight handed her a coffee.

"He's been in surgery for about an hour now. Will was in his room with bloody hands and in shock. Natalie took him. I have not heard anything yet. I have no idea what is going on…", she explained.

"I'm gonna try and get answers.", Voight said and walked away.

Adam sighed next to her. It was also rough for him. Hailey knew that but all she could think about now was Jay. She loved him. She knew it even when she was in a relationship with Adam. She just didn't want those feelings to be true back then. Now that they've broken up and only have a work relationship she could be with Jay, if he wanted that too. She planned on telling him about her feelings. But Jay was so focused on that woman, Angela. Now Jay was fighting for his life because of her. That was just wrong.

Deep in her thoughts she didn't even notice Will, Natalie and Voight entering the waiting room.

"Hailey.", Adam shook her out of her thoughts. She looked up to listen.

"Sorry for earlier, Hailey", Will started, "Jay had a light fever in the morning. I decided not to leave his side until we knew what was going on and fixed it. Before the lab could finish the blood test… Jay went into cardiac arrest. His heart stopped. I immediately started CPR and called for help. His stitches on the surgery wound were all ripped open even though he didn't move around much."

"They rushed him into surgery to repair any damage done. We believe the stitches in the artery reopened, causing blood to go where it shouldn't…. Our best doctors are in there working on Jay.", Natalie added. "We will inform you guys as soon as he is out of surgery. Get comfortable. That procedure can take up to 8 hours."

"Just one quick question: Is he even in the state for such a surgery?", Hailey asked.

"It involves big risks. He had a very big procedure just 4 days ago. We just have to wait and see.", Natalie said carefully. She didn't want to tell them straight up that Jay might not make it.

Hailey lost count of the hours she'd been sitting in that room waiting. It was dark outside again. It was definitely after 8 pm, she thought. Looking at the clock it was actually 10:13 pm.

Adam was sleeping in the chair next to her and Voight was on the phone talking to someone at the police station. Hailey got up and walked over to the vending machine to get more coffee, when the door opened and Will entered the room.

"You really should go home!", he said, realizing a bit too late that no one listened to him.

"Hey everyone!", he said a bit louder. Adam slowly opened his eyes and Hailey and Voight looked at Will while going on with what they were just doing.

"Please go home. I just spoke with the doctor. They are still in surgery. Jay is doing fine for now and it still takes a bit. They repaired the artery again… They won't let you see him before tomorrow anyways. I can't force you but to be honest, I've not been at home for about a week. I'm leaving now. Sitting here isn't helping my brother.", Will said.

They agreed with Will and left the hospital.

The next morning - it was almost midday - Will entered the hospital.

"Good morning!" he was greeted by Dr. Marcel.

"Morning. What are you still doing here?", Will asked.

"I'm leaving in a bit. Just had to finish something. The night was rough, I'm not gonna lie."

"How is he?"

"Stable but critical. The incision got infected and the stitches reopened. We're already giving him antibiotics and hope that will not turn into a sepsis. He is back in his room. We don't expect him to wake up today."

"Thanks."

Will entered his brother's ICU room. He sighed. Jay was back on the ventilator. The breathing tube somehow looked worse than the first time. His chest wasn't covered with the sheets. Some bruising was forming that wasn't there before. It was all the aftermath of the beating he took. The bandage that covered the surgical wound didn't cover all the red and inflamed flesh around it. Will had seen a lot of infections on wounds during his time as a doctor but somehow everything about this seemed worse. Will knew their jobs, especially Jay's, came with great risks. He just never thought he had to see Jay like this.

Will sat next to the bed - again. He lost count of the hours he had spent in this chair in the last couple days. It was probably too much.

"Jay… After losing Dad… I can't lose you now. Please.", Will carefully took his brother's hand. "I need you. You're the only family I have left here."

Will decided to start telling some memories about their childhood. How they played together with their little cars and on the playground around the corner of their street. Will told him about the time he left for Afghanistan. He was so scared Jay wouldn't come back, he prayed every night.

Will knew that coma patients sometimes could hear what a person was telling them. Maybe Jay was in this state too, that he could hear him.

"I'm so glad I came to Chicago! Sorry if I was trouble the first few days I was here. I didn't really plan on beating a guy up. Maybe he was beating me up but that doesn't matter now. It was just the best decision, you know. I'm here, I have a great work place. I have my brother around me. It's great! I hope you feel the same way.", he said, not letting go of his brother's hand in hopes of Jay squeezing it slightly or moving fingers.

He must have fallen asleep on the bed again. It was late at night when he woke up to realize Natalie standing in front of the bed. "Will. I know you don't want to leave him but you can't stay here all the time. At least go to the nursing station and sleep there. Or work. You're here 24/7 anyways."

"I'm sorry, Nat. You're probably right."

"I am right. Now go. You know we will call you as soon as he wakes up or anything changes."

It was the second day after the emergency surgery and Jay didn't appear to make any changes. Will was constantly worrying about his brother but Natalie was right, he was at the hospital all the time anyway so he just went back to work.

Hailey had been there a few times already. The whole team was worried they might lose Jay. Voight in particular was scared. Jay was his best man. After some inconsistencies Hank knew Jay was right for the job and he'd already planned on him taking over the Unit one day.

"We got those guys who kidnapped you last night! It was so weird, Angela did business with them so she could get money and when the drugs disappeared - they were stolen from Angela - they just got you both… Angela is in custody for shooting at you. She will most likely be charged with attempted murder. I hope it stays like this and it won't turn into murder charges… No. I'm sorry, Jay. I know you're still with us.", Hailey sat next to Jay and told him everything about the case.

At first some nurse wouldn't let her into the room but Hailey talked so much and at the end she basically just ran into the room. With police officers or firefighters the rule of "You can't go in there, you're not family" doesn't really apply. The nurse was just young and didn't know that. It was her second shift. At least that's what Natalie told her a few minutes after the young nurse called for help.

Hailey talked to Jay like he was alive, conscious and listening next to her. Somehow she hoped he would just answer to anything she said but the body of her partner only moved when the ventilator pumped fresh air into Jay's lungs.

At the beginning the sound of the machines were horrifying for Hailey. She had to think about death when she heard the sound but now she didn't even hear it anymore. She was focused on telling Jay about the case and other things.

Sometimes she was just staring at him. Some little bruises from the beatings he took were already healed. The three big cuts on his face were nicely shut with new pinkish skin. Will said something about him not having scars on his face when it's all healed. Right now Hailey wasn't so sure about this but it's only been about a week.

Hailey even saw his eyes under the lids moving a little bit. She probably imagined it so she didn't do or say anything. She didn't want to get hers or anybody else's hopes up. The doctor said Jay won't wake up anytime soon. The damage was just too big.

A bit later Hailey's phone rung. It was Voight. They needed her help for a case and he wanted her at the station ASAP. She got up, looked back at Jay to say 'See you later', but suddenly he started coughing. "Jay? HEY GET IN HERE!", she yelled outside the door to get someone's attention.

Will came running with Natalie. "What's happening?", Will asked Hailey.

Natalie checked his vitals. "It's all normal. What's wrong?"

"He just coughed! I just wanted to leave. Voight needs me at a case but he just coughed!"

"Did something else happen while you were here?"

"I don't know, no. Well I thought I saw his eyes moving under the lids but I thought I imagined that.", Hailey said.

Natalie and Will looked at each other. They both were thinking the same: He was trying to wake up.

"Jay. Can you hear me?", Will took his brother's hand and hoped he would react.

"Will, I don't think he's awake or waking up. Sorry.", Natalie said but in the same moment Jay made noises again - he was coughing.

"He is breathing against the ventilator.", Will smiled. "We should try and remove the tube."

"You think he is that far? He isn't even awake." Natalie said.

_I am. Please remove that tube, oh my god it hurts. What the heck? Why won't you listen to me? I'm basically screaming. _

_*coughing* _

_Remove this thing, please, Will. I'm breathing. I'm here. I'm not going to leave you. Just remove the tube please… _

_*coughing* _

"Okay. We'll remove it.", Natalie said.

"But we also can't just pull it out. We need his help for this. We risk injuring his throat."

"We either pull it out carefully or it stays in and that means more coughing and either we give him something or he is just going through hell. You know that can hurt a lot."

"Okay, we'll pull it out. Hailey, you don't have to stay for this. Didn't you need to go to Voight?", Will said.

"Oh no. I'm staying! If he wakes up in a bit, I'm not leaving this room. Please continue saving him from that ugly tube.", Hailey said and watched closely.

Natalie had already placed a towel over Jay's chest and released the clip that was holding the tube in its place. Will carefully and slowly moved Jay's head back and held it in place while Natalie carefully turned Jay over on his left side. She then gave him something through the IV line and put a little piece of plastic into his mouth next to the tube. Jay started coughing more and Natalie pulled out the tube. Will quickly placed an oxygen mask over Jay's face and watched his vitals closely.

"Amazing. Now you can wake up, Jay. You can come back to us.", Will said. They turned him onto his back again.

Hailey watched with a shocked impression. The tube obviously was wet with saliva but there was also a little bit of blood dripping out of Jay's mouth. "Is that normal?", Hailey asked.

"Normally you schedule an extubation and make it in the theatre or in the recovery room. Doing it in the ICU room is not that usual. If the bleeding doesn't stop, we might need to intubate and cauterize the bleeding site.", Natalie explained.

"What? Was that because of you just pulling it out or how did that happen?"

"Hailey, calm down. That can happen to everyone while being extubated. It's not so bad. People can usually just leave the day after a reintubation and cauterization. We now have to see when Jay wakes up.", Will said.

Hailey's phone rung again. She answered "I'm sorry, Jay was just extubated, he is waking up!"

Hailey hung up after listening to Voight and said "I'm staying. I'm not leaving Jay."

"Yeah, me neither.", Will said and Natalie looked at them both.

"Oh wow. I'll be right back.", she left the room.

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?", Hailey asked.

"Yeah. His oxygen level is at 100%, which is great. I'll switch the face mask to a nasal cannula in a bit. His heart rate is normal. Now we just wait and see. He should wake up in the next hour.", Will said.

Jay's eyes fluttered open but quickly closed again. He tried a couple times before he was finally was able to keep them open. The first thing he noticed was two lovely faces staring at him. He just wanted to say something but all he got out was a cough with blood.

Will immediately got a tissue from behind him and wiped away the blood. Hailey looked worried at Will.

"If that doesn't stop bleeding soon, we need to intubate again and…", Will started but was interrupted by Jay who was groaning and trying to say 'No'.

"I'm so sorry, Jay.", Will said.

"W- happn?", Jay asked. He looked extremely exhausted.

"You went into cardiac arrest about four days ago. Jay, your artery reopened, you had emergency surgery again. We weren't sure if you'd pull through."

Jay coughed again. This time with blood but less than before. Will wiped away the blood again.

Jay felt horrible in that moment. He was hurt, bleeding and his brother wiped his mouth like he was a little child who didn't know how to eat properly yet. Jay tried to move his arms to get the tissue from Will's hand to do it himself but his arms were heavy. He could barely move. He was tired. Exhausted. His eyelids fluttered shut again.

"Stay with us, Jay.", Hailey said. She was worried that Jay would lose consciousness again.

"No Hailey. It's alright. Jay, rest up. We'll come back tomorrow.", Will said. "Hailey, come. Let him rest. I think this is the best now."

Both walked out of the room. When Hailey looked back, Jay just closed his eyes.

"Is he going to be alright now?", she asked Will.

"I think the worst part is over. The infection is almost completely gone. He's awake, breathing on his own. It will be a long road of recovery but he should be fine now."

"Thank you!", she hugged Will and left the hospital.

Back at the station everyone was already waiting for Hailey. Everyone wanted news on Jay.

"He is awake.", Hailey started telling everything that happened. From telling him about the case to him showing signs of waking up to the - for Hailey scary-looking - extubation to him actually waking up. "He's exhausted. He is back to sleep already. Will said it'll be a long road of recovery but he thinks the worst part is over and it can only get better now."

The next days really went as predicted. Jay's condition improved daily and by the 5th day in the ICU he started complaining that he was bored and played around with the IV line and wanted to get home. Will warned his brother that hedl be sedated if he kept complaining but everyone knew that was just a joke between brothers. Jay's cuts and bruises were almost fully healed. Every examination of the surgical scar was positive, everything looked good.

"I'm so happy you're alive.", Hailey sat next to his bed, he was also in a half sitting position. Most of the machines were gone, only the heart monitor and an IV line was attached to him. Even the nasal cannula was long gone. He even was back in 'normal' clothes. Will brought him sweat pants, a few T-Shirts and his beloved hoodies.

"Can we still charge Angela with murder?", Jay joked.

"Yeah, Voight wants her to rot in prison forever. He is so mad at that woman."

"Can you blame him?... Hailey, I'm so sorry. I didn't know she dealt drugs and I thought helping her would do her and her son good after what happened. I…"

"Jay, stop. None of this is your fault! Let's all forget that part and just focus on your recovery. You are still a part of our Unit, Voight wants you back as soon as possible. He was with us at Molly's last night. He talked so much about you and how much he is happy about having you there!"

"Thank you, Hailey."

"Jay… I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong?", Jay suddenly was concerned.

"I love you.", she said, looking down. She was scared of his expression.

Jay smiled. "Yeah. I love you, too!"


End file.
